Childbirth here and elsewhere

My first birthing experience was a rather traumatic one. I was 17 years old and was having contractions at 35 weeks pregnant. The doctors told me that it was false labor because I was 5 weeks early. They sent me home after telling me that I was one cm dilated and once the shot they gave me to stop the contractions started to work. Later that evening I was sitting down to eat dinner that I prepared for me and my husband at the time and a sudden pain started again. This time it lasted for a day and a half. I timed my contractions and went to the hospital once they were 5 minutes apart. The doctors hooked me up to the monitors and measured my contractions. After one hour of monitoring I went from 2 cm dilated to 8 cm. it was now time to have my very first baby. I was in a hospital in California, which included a private birthing room. I was placed on a birthing bed, and my feet were strapped to stirrups. The nurses gave me an episiotomy and I did not have any medications or pain relief due to the fact that I was already in the later stages of labor. It was 11 pm and they called the Doctor on call to come and deliver my baby. The doctor performed the incision so I wouldn’t tear while performing natural childbirth. After about thirty minutes of pushing Anna Marie came out. At first the doctors were not sure if her feet or he head was coming out first. That alarmed me. Anna was born with her skin peeled off from head to toe. She was bald and had no fingernails and eyelashes. She was rushed to the ICU and treated as a burn victim. She only weighed 5lbs. 8 oz. and she was determined to have a rare skin disorder. She was then transported the next day to Children’s Hospital LA, where they placed her in Neonatal ICU solitary unit. She then passed away three and a half weeks later due to an infection that lead to her heart. Anna Marie’s skin biopsies were stored for future testing in case any other children would be born with the rare skin disorder. Anna’s case was a rare and unique one because further findings were that there was no disease known to man that was exactly like my Anna. I laid her to rest in the family cemetery and have had two more children since. My two little girls now are my blessing from Anna, for I have always wanted to have a daughter of my own to love and hold. The reason I chose to discuss my story about Anna is because I experienced a healthy pregnancy, I ate the right and nutritious foods, I exercised lightly, and I had prenatal care. Anna gave medicine a sample to study and learn from. Anna gave us a little bit of her life to see the world outside the womb, and to greet her mommy and daddy. I feel that her little bit of life gave me strength and knowledge about Child Development in regards to skin diseases and incidents that we have little knowledge of. Feel the world can learn from her and in hopes that no other child will have the same outcome. I performed some research about birthing in Korea. It seems that they have most of the same technology that the US has in birthing. They perform cesareans like the US does. Korea has one unique method of birthing such as a birthing pool. It is only used for non placental deliveries. I feel this is a comfortable way to relieve contractions while getting ready to birth. Korea also performs episiotomies and they have private rooms for the baby to room in but only through private consultations with the Doctor prior to the birth. (http://www.korea4expats.com). I have noticed a few differences with Korean tradition of birthing than with Western procedures. In Korea the husband or father is not present in the birthing room, “Korean births are not always in a private room” (http://www.korea4expats.com). I feel that the birthing experiences in Korea are similar to the US, but the father not being present leads me to believe that the father to child bond is not as strong as in the US or in hospitals that allow fathers to be present. References Korea 4 Expats. com “Having a baby in Korea-Giving Birth” (2011). Retrieved from (http://www.korea4expats.com/article-giving-birth-in-korea.html).